Mundie Moms

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Book Review: On The Fringe by Courtney King Walker


Released on: October 19th, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher to review
4 Stars: I Really Liked It
Purchase from: Amazon

Claire is struggling to overcome the murder of her childhood friend and secret crush, Daniel. Everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives, but she's still trying to cope. The fact that she finds herself alone and drowning on her 16th birthday isn't helping.

Neither is thinking she sees Daniel's face in murky water as she mysteriously resurfaces. But something happened during those four and a half minutes that will make her realize it was not just her imagination.As Claire and Daniel try to grasp a possible reconnection, other grudge-holding beings have plans of their own. Now, the two of them have to decide if their fleeting relationship is worth the possibility of Claire being trapped on the fringe forever.Beautifully told, On the Fringe intertwines fresh ideas about devotion, revenge, and the consequences that come with life and death -quoted from Goodreads

On The Fringe is a beautiful, heart warming love story mixed with a haunting ghost story set on revenge. This story is told from two alternating points of view from both the love interests, Claire and her older brother's best friend, Daniel. Despite feeling like their points of views at times were a little hard to connect with as they both would retell the same scene, I really liked their characters. They were both easy characters for me to connect with.

Claire made it easy to remember what it was like having your first crush. When that someone goes from being a friend you've know for a long time to all the sudden being someone you are falling for. The butterflies and the excitement she felt were real and so was the depression she went through after Daniel's surprising death. It's not that she can't let go of him, it's that she holds on to the fact that she never told him she liked him. I understood her wanting to keep that bottled up. So no one, not her big brother, her parents or even her best friend and Daniel's younger sister Addie know how she's really feeling.

I really liked the way Daniel's character develops and surprisingly the connection with him takes place after his death, since that happens early on in the story. Like Claire, he too never got to tell Claire how he really felt and I liked being able to see how the two really felt about each other, even though they don't tell each other until after the fact. I really loved watching his love for Claire grow deeper as the story continues, and he becomes her protector against a darker force that's after her to get back at Daniel. That part of the story was a great twist!

The relationship between Daniel and Claire is one of those beautifully written, realistically portrayed relationships. I love what Courtney did with them, and being able to really watch how they transition from being friends to something more. The other interesting element to this story is the setting, which is set both in the mortal world and a place called the fringe, where spirits who haven't gone on are stuck in, which is where Daniel is. It's here that danger and the unknown lie. On The Fringe is a great debut that hooked me with it's mix of a ghost story, danger, love, friendship and romance. I really liked the way the story unravels. It's a clean cut story I'd recommend to YA readers 13 yrs & older.


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4 comments:

  1. I can't say that I've ever heard of this book, but it sounds so good! I'm sick of insta-love relationships, so it's nice to see a relationship based on being long-term friends in life (and after death)! I'll have to go check this one out. Great review! :)

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  2. Jessi- Thank you so much! I agree, the insta-love is getting a little old. This relationship is so refreshing!! I hope you enjoy it!

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  4. I really want to read this book, but my library doesn't have it. The plot sounds interesting and very different in comparision to what is out in YA right now and I really like the title of this book.

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